iPad as an interactive whiteboard: Quick games of Hangman & Pictionary for the students

With a few minutes to spare in class today, I decided to whip out the Evernote Skitch app again (free!)

My students love playing Hangman, and it reinforces letter learning, and sentence processing.

Since I teach the same grade back to back for three different classes, I decided to make a couple of quick sentences first, before class:

(The oval is there to remind me of “pizza”)

This way all I had to do in Skitch was open up the Camera Roll option. I didn't need to restart the image each time.

Here's a screenshot of the Skitch app in action:

Notice how easy it is to write on the iPad. I can choose to save, tweet, or send to my Evernote account the final image. Students see the projection and see me writing in real time. It's hilarious to see their reaction when a letter they choose is not in the sentence. It's also satisfying when the clever kids solve the sentence with only a few letters are given. I've played this quite a few times, and, even though I draw extra body parts like ears and eyes, my students have never lost!

I used to play this on the teachers' (actual) whiteboards, but half the time there was important writing there that I couldn't erase (I teach in different homerooms). This way, I have my own blank slate and can draw or annotate anything I want, using either a stylus or even just my fingers.

I've been trying to look for a hangman type app in French, but have not found one where I can input my own phrases. I think this way is good enough for the time being until someone creates that app.

By the way, here's the solution to the other phrase, for you French speakers out there:

I also did a quick game of pictionary using words from the unit:

It was super easy to quickly draw the items, and as kids guessed on got them correct, I could clear the drawing within seconds (without needing to save them).